hilarious
adj.-
1 extremely funny (adj.) B2 Upper Intermediateextremely funny; something that makes you laugh out loud.
extremely amusing or funny; as an extreme adjective, it is typically modified by 'absolutely' rather than 'very'.
ExampleThe comedian told a hilarious story about his first day at work.
ExampleThe play was absolutely hilarious, with the audience frequently erupting into spontaneous laughter at the lead actor's physical comedy.
UsageUsually functions as a non-gradable adjective; it is more common in spoken English and informal writing than in academic contexts.
Teacher's tipLearners often over-use 'very' with this word; remind them that 'hilarious' is already at the top of the 'funny' scale.
- hysterical
- uproarious
- sidesplitting
PitfallThe movie was very hilarious.The movie was absolutely hilarious.Since 'hilarious' already means 'very funny', you should use 'absolutely' or 'really' instead of 'very' to add emphasis.
Learned borrowing from Latin hilaris (“cheerful”) + -ous, from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful, merry”).
- Nounhilarity
- Adjectivehilarious
- Adverbhilariously